Silence Broken
by C.B. Magique
Summary: Xion arrives in a new world for recon and meets a strange, largely silent inhabitant. She unknowingly creates another connection.


I'm here with yet another KH-crossover. This does contain spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days so if you haven't played it and intend to and don't want spoilers, don't read this.

If you have played the game though, you should know where I got the title's namesake from.

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts is property of Square Enix and Disney. Crash Bandicoot is currently property of Radical Entertainment... and who knows whose hands it will transfer to next.  


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**Silence Broken

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**

"Okay, I'm going to do this one more time," Coco said sternly, holding up a white card with a sketchy drawing of a green coffee mug. "Cup."

Crash looked at her across the table and then at the pink cup decorated with blue flowers sitting in the middle of the table. He pushed it towards her, nearly splashing the juice inside over the rim. Coco sighed.

"No, Crash. Say 'cup'," she reiterated. When Crash continued to stare at her and do nothing she knew that for some reason he wasn't paying attention. She turned around seeing nothing and looked back at Crash. A green and brown butterfly was now fluttering about over the table. It must have been sitting on her ponytail or her fringe outside of her notice. She could see the distraction it represented as Crash wordlessly followed its flight path with his eyes.

"You need to stop that," she told him, waving the butterfly outside through the window.

"I dunno," Crunch piped up, watching Coco's efforts from the new hammock on the other side of the hut. "Maybe this is a wasted effort."

"No! I know he can talk, he just has to try," Coco insisted. "He knows all the words – he would have to so that he can understand us – but I can't figure out why he just won't say them."

"It sounds to me like he doesn't want to talk."

"I'm doing this for your sake more than mine. You get so frustrated when you can't understand what he's saying. If he could talk it would make everything easier for everyone."

"Coco, all things will come in their own time," Aku-aku told her wisely. "I'm sure Cortex has already shown you that when you try to force things into your own mould the disasters will only fall upon yourself."

"But... but..." Coco tried to argue. She turned to Crash for help but he was no longer at the table. The door banged against the frame. Coco spun around to find it swinging slightly ajar and one of the surfboards they kept beside it was missing.

"That settles that," Crunch decided, coming down from the hammock and picking up a body board. "Are you coming to the beach with us?"

Coco slumped and sighed. "Oh... okay."

-----

It was a nice day outside on the little island. The temperature was pleasant and the sun wasn't so harsh like it was on the other little islands that Organisation XIII usually made Xion visit. There were beaten paths all throughout this island like there was on the second island beside it. A more foreboding place could be seen even further off but it looked completely demolished. No one could have possibly been living in that junk. She could smell the sea now so there must have been a beach nearby. That thought put more of a skip in her step. She'd be able to collect another shell for Roxas.

Voices from the beach reached her on the sea breeze. She slowed. Voices meant people nearby and knowing the Organisation's policy on being noticed, Xion knew she had to tread carefully now.

The path was open at the end but the cover from the trees made it shady enough to be a sufficient hiding spot on a sunny day like this. Xion expected to see more of the indigenous population from the village on the other side of the island. She stood close to a palm tree, hesitating to actually hide behind it, and looked out over the beach with a keen eye. Instead of the dark-skinned humans she expected to see, she spotted a floating wooden mask and three strange bipedal animals. At least, she assumed they were animals. They acted like humans – two of them were surfing and the other sat under a beach umbrella typing on a pink laptop – but their appearance was similar to a marsupial she'd seen on the islands. Her curiosity piqued, Xion continued to observe.

Crash and Crunch rode the current wave to shore. The surf was really good that day and the perfect weather just made everything better. This was all Crash wanted to do for the rest of his life.

"Okay, it's my go," Crunch said. The two male bandicoots tossed their boards to each other simultaneously and then headed back into the water.

Aku-aku smiled at the almost childish fun. The young bandicoots were so carefree these days, not once worrying about the possible return of Cortex or Uka-uka. "Coco, won't you be joining them?" he asked the girl.

She sighed, looking up from the computer in her lap. "Nah, it's a boy's world out there right now. Besides, I've got to do some important research. I started thinking that maybe Crash might have a mental disability or a gene defect that prevents him from talking. Or maybe he has a phobia."

Aku-aku shook his head while Coco kept typing and browsing but he couldn't help smiling. Coco was determined to do things her own way.

A loud cry came from far out in the deep water. Coco and Aku-aku looked towards it as Crunch and Crash were preparing to ride a huge wave that was ready to break. Xion clutched the trunk of the palm tree tightly and stared wide-eyed in suspense. Surely a wave that big would be dangerous. In the next minute, though, she was gazing in awe at the way the strange creatures on the boards were able to slide along the moving water. They made it look so easy.

"Hey, Crash, check it out," Crunch exclaimed, making Crash turn his attention. "Hanging ten!"

Crunch grinned while he did the trick, waving his hands in the air. Crash returned the grin and gave him a thumbs-up. He heard a warning call from the shore and looked to the beach. Coco has set aside her computer and was waving at them frantically. Crash looked up. They hadn't paid attention to the way the wave was breaking and found it crashing on top of both of them in a spectacular wipe out. Coco bent down next to her computer and stopped the webcam recording. Both male bandicoots washed up on shore with their boards. Crunch spluttered a bit and wiped the water off his face. Crash lay face down on the sand, unmoving. Xion put a hand to her mouth, worried for the little orange one.

Coco stomped up to them while Crunch was turning Crash over to see if he was okay. "Are you two satisfied? You could have gotten hurt there."

"Yeah, I know," Crunch replied, hitting Crash in the face to wake him up. It wasn't working. "But you've gotta admit, it was awesome right til the end. But Crash doesn't look too good..."

"Step aside," Coco said professionally, fixing her overalls into a more comfortable position. She took up a basic martial arts stance and with a loud karate battle cry she punched down right into Crash's solar plexus. A stream of water from Crash's lungs shot up into the air and when it was finished spouting Crash was heaving for air.

Crunch cringed. "Was that really necessary?"

"It was effective," Coco simply replied. "Cool move though, right? I learnt it off the Kung Fu Fight Force movie I downloaded last night. Crash will be fine. Won't you, big brother?"

Crash was panting with his tongue hanging out and yet he still raised his hand to give a thumbs-up to communicate his agreement.

"See? Fine."

Xion couldn't hear what was being said but from the looks of things, they would use violence to solve problems. She wasn't sure if she wanted anything to do with them and may have to stay clear of the beach until nightfall. Crunch shook his body to get the seawater out of his fur. Coco dived to shield her computer from the drops.

"Crunch! Don't you know that computers and water don't mix! You couldn't have burnt out my hardware. And look at how wet you made me!"

"Sorry," Crunch muttered, drying out his hairy ears with a towel. In the meantime, Crash took off his trousers and wrung the denim in his hands. Xion blushed, thankful that the animals were human enough to understand the modesty of underwear and use it. On top of that, wondering why the orange one had gone swimming in denim trousers rather than changing into swimwear.

Crash looked up from his wringing to the trees. He could have sworn he'd seen something there out of the corner of his eye. Xion gasped and hid behind the tree quickly but it was too late. Crash had already seen her. He stopped and stared for a moment, wondering what to make of it until Coco started calling him.

"Crash! Come back to the house so you can hang your pants out and get a dry pair on."

Crash shook some excess water out of his trousers and started to make his way back to their little hut in the forest. He would keep an eye out for that strange human in black, though. Who knows, that person could have been one of Cortex's minions.

-----

Xion had done as much reconnaissance as she possibly could and had received the authorisation to RTC hours ago but she refused to leave without Roxas' shell. It was night time and the temperature had shifted from pleasantly warm to chilly. Xion didn't really mind though, being dressed in leather meant it didn't make a difference. She crept back out to the beach. The animals were probably inside their house now and she would be able to go shell collecting without interruption.

She was able to see clearly since there was a full moon. The bandicoot house was dark which made Xion a bit more relieved. Logically she could now assume that they were asleep. So she scaled the beach and kept her eyes trained to the sand on the lookout for any shells that appeared to be colourful or interesting. Most of them – to her dismay – were broken. She found many, many sand dollars, which might make a good substitute for a nice shell if she failed to find one.

The sound of sand crunching behind her reached her ears and Xion turned around quickly. The little orange bandicoot that had almost drowned today had followed her. She jumped back defensively. Crash widened his stance and growled at her. All he could see in this strange person was a vaguely feminine human in a black cloak with the hood up to hide her face. Xion clenched her teeth. This did not look like it would end well. She decided to take the offensive and launched a fire spell at him. To her amazement, the bandicoot spun as fast as a tornado, kicking up the sand under his feet, and deflected the spell right back at her. She ducked to avoid it. He stopped spinning and stared her down. It became clear to Xion that he was not going to start an outright fight; he was just defending his home. With that knowledge, Xion could relax a little.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, standing up straight. "I shouldn't have acted aggressively. After all, I'm the intruder here and you're just protecting your home."

She watched him closely. He drew his feet in closer and took on a more relaxed pose, looking up at her inquiringly. After a minute of silence had passed between them, Xion realised that he wasn't going to talk, so she continued:

"I'm just here to collect shells for my friend," she explained, reaching into her pocket and picking out a sample of sand dollars and bleached spirals to show him as evidence that she was telling the truth. "Do you mind?"

The bandicoot smiled and shook his head. Xion quietly breathed a sigh of relief and put the shells back in her pocket. The bandicoot had dropped the hostility towards her easily. He gestured for her to follow and took off running to the end of the beach where the mouth of a river met the sea. Xion followed quickly, stumbling a bit since her heels were sinking into the sand. Eventually she did make it. The orange bandicoot jumped up and down, pointing at a little rock pool. Xion approached the pool and looked over the edge into the clear, salty waters. At first she couldn't see anything other than sand, silt and rocks covered in algae. Small crabs, starfish and sea cucumbers could be found on the floor but Xion wasn't interested in taking back any of those. Maybe the bandicoot had misunderstood her. Then suddenly he reached into the pool and pulled out what Xion thought was just a slimy rock. He turned it over to show her the inside. Her eyes widened. It was a shell! The outside was completely covered in greenish-grey, slippery algae but inside it was smooth and clean and blended from bright pink in the middle to pastel yellow on the edge. Xion smiled. All she needed to do was clean it up a bit and it would be the perfect new gift for Roxas.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" Xion gasped, taking the shell from the male bandicoot, seeing as he was offering it. "Thank-you! My friend will love this." Actually, she wasn't sure if he would seeing as he was currently in a coma but it was nice to think that he would when he woke up.

The bandicoot just grinned, looking proud of himself for doing someone a service.

"That was so nice of you to show me this," Xion said, knowing that what she was about to ask went completely against Organisation XIII's policy about 'meddling' but it seemed to be the right thing to do. "Who are you?"

For some reason it felt right to get acquainted like this but Xion had no idea why it did. Perhaps it had something to do with her past life that she had no recollection of. The bandicoot looked confused for a moment, as if it didn't know how to answer. Xion waited and with each passing second she thought that there was no way he was going to answer. Why didn't he talk?

"Okay, I'll tell you mine first. I'm Xion."

Crash's ears perked. He knew she'd said 'Xion' but a whisper from someplace intangible uttered a different name over the top: "Sora."

"Will you tell me yours now?"

Crash contemplated this and picked up a rock. Handwriting wasn't one of his strong points (then again, most things that required brains and concentration weren't) but he managed to scratch out, on one of the large rocks enclosing the rock pool, his name.

"'Crash'?" Xion read. "Is that really your name?"

Crash nodded.

"Well, I guess I'm not one to judge. My name's a lot weirder." Xion stood up. Since it was already so late the others in the Organisation were probably wondering where she was. She might get scolded by some of the older members. "Thank-you again Crash. It's getting late so I have to get back home. I don't know if we'll ever meet again but it was nice to meet you. Goodbye."

With the shell in hand she waved to him and walked away to the dark portal location. She knew she would never meet Crash again. His world was pure: free of Heartless and Nobodies alike. Organisation XIII had no reason to carry out missions in this place. She returned to the castle where she would focus on her missions and never mention this world again but she would never forget Crash – the one of the only _people_ she had really _met_.

Crash Bandicoot sat on the rocks for a while longer, watching Xion until she disappeared into the trees. Xion was a strange girl and that was saying something after all the strange things he had seen. But even more so than those things, Xion was strange because she seemed to have something missing; she was incomplete. And suddenly words began to spill out onto his tongue but he wouldn't bother to say them because there was no one to say them to out here on the beach all alone.

"_Where did you come from?"_

"_Who is your friend?" _

"_Why are you incomplete?" _

It would be useless to ask questions like that to the wind. The wind wouldn't know how to answer back. The wind isn't Xion. Yet she was gone with it.

Crash had never wanted to talk. He had never wanted to talk to Tawna, only listen because she was beautiful and intelligent and she had ideas and opinions that were just so interesting that he didn't want to erase them from his mind by having to remember his own words. He didn't need to talk to Coco, she was his sister. Family always understood. Aku-aku was capable of listening to his heart (and maybe even read his mind... probably) so he didn't need to use words with the shaman mask. Crunch could sometimes be a little difficult to communicate with but since Crash had never spoken before, he didn't know what he could say. He would not just take the words that other people fed him and regurgitate them to someone else (Tawna made a statement about that, he remembered).

It was a pity now that he had the words to say but the person he meant to say them to wasn't here anymore. He gazed at the stars, knowing somehow in his heart that Xion would not come back. He thought about the other name: Sora. Who was Sora? Where was Sora? He scratched the name onto the rocks in hopes that he might keep remembering it (he would remember it, but the name on the rocks would be washed away with the next rain). Maybe there was a chance that he would meet Sora. He could hope and wish that someday Sora would come to meet him and maybe then Crash would have some words to say to him.

"Sora..." he repeated in his own voice. It was odd to hear something like that in his own voice when it had never been said before.

A star shot across the night sky.

And maybe when Sora came to meet him, he could ask Sora why Xion was incomplete.


End file.
